Where in the World are Ya Ya and Mr. SP?

Our Christmas tree is not up.  Most of our Christmas decorations are still in the attic.  It’s just how this holiday season is going.  We missed getting a tree from the forest we usually go to each December when we were in North Dakota.  We’ve been looking at several different alternatives but haven’t actually implemented any of our plans due to cold, cold weather and a nasty virus that has attacked our house.  However, I did manage to grab a few seasonal things down from the attic, like the berry wreath that hangs on the front door, and the basket of Christmas picture books that is a welcome treasure in little hands this time of year.  Our favorite “play-with-it” Nativity set is up and running, a big hit with all my little people, and we have a few Christmas magnet playsets out too.

Despite our scarcely decorated home, we had a busy Christmas weekend, taking in concerts at the elementary school and watching the kids choir worship in church on Sunday.  Mr. SP was so excited to join the kids choir for their Christmas program when the kindergarteners were invited to sing a few months ago.  It really floored me, actually, since he has always been extremely resistant to music.  I was waiting and waiting for things to go not well, but he really did pay attention and do what he was supposed to do, and he was happy about it.  Wonders never cease.  It was great to see him up there singing.  He didn’t know ALL the words, but he got a lot of it down.  The concerts at school, pictured above, went well also.  The kindergarteners were quite humorous, and Ya Ya’s class did a very nice job as well.

The school concerts are so different from my elementary music concerts.  There are three performances during the day, and for each one the gymnasium is completely packed, with many, many, many parents standing along the sides and the back.  In fact, we got there very early and still ended up standing.  Because there are so many people and just not enough space to accommodate  the audience, they actually encourage, or maybe welcome would be a better way of putting it, parents to leave when their children are done so that others can sit down.  We were a bit thankful for that, as we needed to stay all the way to the end, and it was hard to hold Squirmy and stand that long.

This year Ya Ya volunteered to play a piano piece for the pre concert music before one of the school performances.  I was really excited that she decided to play.  It was all her idea, and actually, I was a bit surprised that she considered it all, given the massive audience.  She did TERRIFIC!  I was so proud.  A couple of my other students volunteered to play as well.  I enjoyed hearing all of them, and the students who weren’t mine too.  There was one adorable third grader playing coronet.  I was so happy to hear him play!  He even played with accompaniment. I just love the sound of beginner band instruments!  It makes me happy, happy, happy!

The most hilarious part of the school concert didn’t have anything to do with my own kids at all.  There was a first grade girl standing on the end of the risers in a blue dress.  She was one of the first students on the risers, and the classes are all very large, so it takes a bit of time to move one group out and the next in.  While the rest of the class was getting on the risers, the little girl in the blue dress heard music from The Nutcracker, and began doing a small ballet routine on the riser.  Adorable!  She was supposed to play wood tone blocks during one of the songs, but she got so involved in doing all the actions ever so emphatically, that she would often forget her tone block part until all the other block players played, and then about three beats later she’d realize she missed her part and three beats after that she’d actually play her tone blocks, because it took a bit of time for her to stop doing the actions with all her heart and soul, and get the mallet over to the tone blocks.  I loved it.